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Close the Cancer Research funding gap

Regular readers of the blog will know about my calls to allow the drug Abiraterone to be funded on the NHS. Currently, the body making the decision, NICE (National Institute for Clinical. Excellence), is saying no because they say it would cost too much. More expensive drugs have been approved, but helped less people. You have the crazy situation that the drug is being turned down for use because it is effective.

Now, a BBC study has uncovered that 93% of money spent on Cancer Research is spent in the South.

I accept that the money should be spent where it is most effective, but are policy makers honestly arguing that 93% of the best work is happening in the south? If they are, then I don’t believe them.

2 responses to “Close the Cancer Research funding gap”

This figure does seem high but it’s perhaps not a huge surprise that there is a concentration of spend in the South, as London, Cambridge and Oxford carry out such a huge amount of cancer research. The North doesn’t have research powerhouses of that scale, although Manchester is probably top ten.

That said, it is paramount that funding goes to the best quality science regardless of where it is – regional pride is all well and good but it cannot be denied that we should not fund research unless it is world class.

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